MURDOCK – Law students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will be able to thank Elmwood-Murdock teenagers for important reading materials in 2023.
Members of the Elmwood-Murdock Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) chapter have completed their chapter community service project as part of the FCCLA National Programs in Action. Students decided to focus on a project that will support abused and neglected children.
Elmwood-Murdock partnered with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law’s Children’s Justice Clinic. The Knights collected nearly 700 children’s books to donate to the clinic. UNL law students will use the books to connect with children and become friends with them. They will then be able to better represent their needs in court.
Elmwood-Murdock FCCLA President Harrison Koehn said the Knights were happy to participate in the book drive.
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“It’s meaningful to collect books for kids who really need them,” Koehn said.
FCCLA students began asking community members to help with the project during the first semester of school. They partnered with St. Paul United Methodist Church in Elmwood and Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Murdock to enlist their help. Students and community members gathered 691 children’s books for law students to use throughout their time with the program.
FCCLA member Dakota Glasshoff coordinated the children’s book drive. She met with the director of the Children’s Justice Clinic when she delivered the books to Lincoln. She said that made the project even more meaningful for her.
“Learning more about the program made me proud that our FCCLA chapter helped to support their work,” Glasshoff said. “There are a lot of family programs we could have chosen to help with our chapter project, but this one really helps kids who need it the most across the state.”
Fellow FCCLA chapter members Brooke Goudie, Hannah Petersen, Averi Hogue, Will Fox, Michael Hynes, Kaia Sacco-Rohde and Charles Cawley joined Koehn and Glasshoff on the project. Glasshoff will lead a presentation about the group’s work at the FCCLA District STAR competition on Jan. 20.
The UNL College of Law created the Children’s Justice Clinic in 2017. Law students serve many children in Lancaster County Juvenile Court under the supervision of adjunct law professor Michelle Paxton.
